


"Rainy Farmer's Market", from Where the Sky Hangs

by hotpantsasami



Series: Where the Sky Hangs [4]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, San Francisco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 05:30:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4992085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotpantsasami/pseuds/hotpantsasami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asami is the daughter of Hiroshi Sato, a rich auto manufacturer CEO, and is studying experimental engineering in the labs at a San Francisco university, while designing new planes and cars for her father’s company the rest of the week. Korra is an amateur MMA fighter, who is training under Coach Lin Beifong to soon join the Northern California League of fighters. Korra and Asami met at a park in Monterey, CA where they were both living at the time, and decided to move into an apartment together on Ocean Beach so Asami could get some independence from her father and go to school, and Korra could further her career in fighting. So far most of the writing takes place between September-November, 1997.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Rainy Farmer's Market", from Where the Sky Hangs

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a birthday present for a friend :)

     Korra awoke and shot straight up, seeing the light shining in through the blinds, her body feeling like old felt in the dank, sweaty room. She’d been bolting up from her sleep lately for no apparent reason, her body just telling her it was time to wake up or something. Maybe training for the amateur tournament was doing it to her - it was coming up in three weeks, but she had begun training pretty heavily. She’d already lost interest though, and she could feel how good the weather was today just by seeing the light through the blinds. She’d laid back down, her arms spread out, her mind already racing with what she could do today.

     It was Asami’s day off.

     She breathed deep and could hear Asami quietly clinking coffee cups in the kitchen, the smell of fresh brew wafting through the door crack. She heard Naga shuffle by the door, but didn’t nose her way in. Korra launched herself upright again, a little weirded out by how humming her muscles were. She maneuvered out of her dank room and swung herself around the doorjamb into the living room, seeing Asami sitting at the $15 table they had set up smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. Korra had liked it for some reason, even though it was made of particle board, and Asami had grumbled how she’d like to replace it with something from Scandinavian Designs, but perhaps she had grown to it too. Asami wore her reading glasses with the librarian chain, sipping too hot coffee and reading the Chronicle, still in her silk pink pajamas with a purple fuzzy robe from Mervyn’s over it. She had on the lime green slippers that Korra had bought her for a roomate-aversary present.

     Korra, even though she didn’t really realize it, felt intimidated by how beautiful Asami looked like that, and awkwardly pulled at her sleep-rumpled tank top. Her knees were sweating in her gray sweats, realizing how hot it was in the whole house, and Asami was drinking coffee. Before Korra could come up with something to say, she opened the sliding glass door and Naga ran up and noozled her.

     “Hey girl”, Korra knelt to Naga. Korra looked up at the exact time Asami was looking at her, her nose scrunched up under her chain glasses, her cheeks pink from the steaming coffee,

     “Uh, hey, sleep well?”, she said sheepishly, sipping hard and looking back at the Business section, one eye still on Korra.

     “Uh, yeah, hey, um, it stinks in here, I know you don’t want bugs, but they won’t come in this time of year”, Korra said stretching, looking at the media cabinet, another pressed hardwood Goodwill chic item Asami had been against at first.

     “Uh, I made toaster strudel in the oven like you like, and the coffee’s hot”, Asami finished, looking pleased with herself as she burned her lips even more. Korra pulled up a chair and sat backwards, eying Asami from over the chair back. Asami put her coffee down, slowly put the paper down as she realized Korra was sitting across from her, awaiting a response. Korra coughed,

     “So what do you want to do today? I don’t want to do anything too strenuous, like our hike to the lighthouse last week, maybe stay in town?”. Asami smiled,

     “It wasn’t too strenuous, I liked it. Well, I liked the walk we took through the meadows more, you showing me all the edible wildflowers”. Korra sat back on the chair, put her hand on her hip,

     “I can’t believe you bought that $40 book at the visitor center, they had that $5 pamphlet”.

     “I know, but that didn’t have gardening, or flower… touring, tips”. Asami smirked, crossed her arms. She remembered trudging in the wet fog all the way out to that stupid lighthouse, Korra always up ahead of her, walking on goat trails over the precarious and breathless cliffs that looked like they should be underwater. She would’ve died if not for that Ann Taylor trench coat she had had in the car, and it had gotten so… adventured, she wouldn’t mind taking Korra and going to get a new one in Corte Madera.

     Asami snapped out of remembering Korra calling back to her, her biceps out and bare in the fog, realized Korra was staring at her.

    “Hello…”

    “Ahh, um, I definitely wouldn’t want to go up to Mt. Tamalpais either, even though we only stopped a couple minutes, I could tell that place was too chilly”. She went to sip her coffee hard again, but her eyes stared down bewildered that none was left.

    “I’ll get it”, Korra stood up before Asami noticed, looking at her gray sweats as she poured the coffee. Korra turned and leaned towards Asami, holding a new mug out to her. Asami bit her lip a little, smiled,

    “Thanks, get your strudel outta there before it gets cold”. Asami turned away and looked at the TV, blushed from staring at Korra’s pants so much, hoping Korra would just think it the heat, but the apartment was cooling down. Asami peered back around to see Korra bending up with her toaster strudel, grabbing a paper towel, a coffee in hand, even though she knew Korra didn’t drink coffee that much.

     As Korra started munching, Asami put her glasses aside, since they were just getting steamed up and she was done reading anyway.

     “So, whatch’you wanna do? Did you have anything in mind?”, Korra gulped. Asami smirked,

     “Well, maybe we should rent a movie later this afternoon for tonight, maybe after a walk around the park, if the weather’s fine. I heard there’s a street market on Cabrillo and 37th I think, and the video store isn’t too far from there, so we could make a nice lap…”,

     “Sounds great!”. Korra gulped again, said with pastry in the corner of her mouth, “we could use some fruit! I’d kill for some melon! Well, maybe not kill, but bash some skulls on the pavement”. Korra sat still as Asami quickly leaned over the table and brushed the crumbs out of the corner of her mouth. Korra froze, then smiled at Asami, who smirked back, her eyes with that confident gaze she had when finalizing a deal or setting her plan on course for a new product. Korra wondered sometimes if she knew how smoldering and powerful her gaze was, as it was a dangerous weapon.

     “I say we get going, there’s some good shops in that area too…”, a weather forecast muttered on the TV, a din next to their conversation, “… and we might have to get that movie earlier, sounds like it’ll rain later this afternoon”.

     “Hmph, figures, even so, I’d like to go back to that crepe place again in the Haight, at least get some take-out”. Asami smacked her lips,

     “Yes, yum! I have to have that Mediterranean crepe again!”.

     “Alright, let’s go…”, Korra started to get up, then looked down at Naga, “Can’t forget to take you, girl. But you have to promise to be nice, okay? I know you get cooped up in here too much”. Naga started licking Korra’s arm, getting excited at the prospect of going to the park and food-smelling places. Asami had showered already thankfully, but now she just had to comb through it. It was getting pretty long and hard to manage, but she liked how thick it was.

     “Korra get ready, okay?”,

     “Don’t have to tell me, Sleeping Beauty”. Korra said, going back into her room, seeing Asami starting to take the 17 bobby pins out of her hair. Asami bit her lip again, watched Korra close her door.

 

     Korra was dressed in her gray Puma sweatshirt Asami had bought her last time in Corte Madera, looking very Christmas-esque cozy indeed. It was misty out and Korra’s hair was already staticky. Although she had wanted to wear capris and a tank top, Asami had talked her in to wearing her dark blue Everlast sweats with the red stripe on the side. Traffic was picking up at almost noon, and they were walking along the north edge of Golden Gate Park.

     Asami had Naga’s leash at the moment, and she wore her orangey-tinted sunglasses, her wintery red coat with black trim from Bloomingdale’s, a wool scarf to match. She had on Calvin Klein blue jeans and tall, brown pleather boots. It didn’t seem like the fog would let up much, but that wasn’t dampening Asami’s outlook.

     “What movie are you thinking for tonight? I’m thinking something fairly recent, not a rom-com, but not a heavy drama either”. Korra was distracted, fidgeting her wet hair around, unsatisfied with her current look, and the dreary weather. She had wanted to play Frisbee in the park with Asami and Naga! And wear her tank top and get just-so sweaty! And then get cold lemonade or ice cream afterwards and then walk back to the house to have just so far a walk to tire Korra out perfectly. She would’ve had to think about Naga too, not to mention Asami. Even though Asami almost always kept up with Korra when they would do anything sporty, Korra did have to realize it took more of a toll on Asami than her.

     “Hey, goofy… goofball! Are you looking?”. Korra woke up, Asami waving her hand in front of her face. “Don’t stare off like that, I don’t want you to trip over a crack and hurt your knee ‘cuz you weren’t paying attention… you know”, Asami’s eyes darted sideways, thinking to herself that might have just been a little too much concern. Her arms were crossed, her nails painted black but chipped from working in the college lab yesterday. Korra remembered her debating on whether to paint them black, thinking it be too bold if she were to network someone important, but she had anyway, the original Rocky Horror production soundtrack playing in the background.

     Korra smirked, coughed a nervous laugh upon realizing she had dazed off thinking about Asami again, when she should just focus on now, here, with Asami. She had a tendency of doing that, and she wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe it was partly because Asami seemed so well put together much of the time, and Korra never knew quite what to say.

     Asami realized Korra hadn’t noticed her over-concern, and was thankful for that.

     “Hey, I know we don’t get to hang out as often as we may like, and the weather’s not the best, but I still think we can make a day of this yet…”. Korra noticed Asami had slid her arm through Korra’s crook, Asami holding her opposite wrist. She looked slightly up at the raindrops on Asami’s orange sunglasses and her eyelashes behind. Korra smiled, happy to have Asami’s wintry coat wrapped around her arm, and a reminder she was there. Maybe that was the ticket to get Korra to focus out of here over-thinking.

     “Hey, I know, I’m sorry, I was just hoping for a little more sun so we could play in the park, Naga and you and me. I know you two don’t really mind, but she doesn’t get out as often as I wish she did, and, well… she smells the food now, I think she’ll probably be happy”. Naga’s nose started wiggling madly, grilled chicken kabobs wafting from a block up. Asami clung onto Korra’s arm still, their shoulders and sides touching.

     “I agree, Naga, I’m hungry too. I guess I drank more coffee and ate less this morning than I thought”. Asami looked from the droplets on the tree leaves and streaks of sun shining through the sea gray clouds, to Korra, a fond look on her face,

     “I know you might not want to talk about it, but what’s on your mind? You can tell me, I know I’ve been a little distant lately, we both have”.

     Korra felt a little hot under her sweatshirt collar. But, she felt Asami’s arm squeeze a little more tightly under hers, and saw her mascara already starting to smear in the rain. Korra held back the urge to wipe it away, knowing it would probably make a big mark across her eyelid that would make her have to run into the nearest coffee shop bathroom to fix it. She assured her grip around Asami’s arm, looked ahead,

     “Well, I woke up this morning and shot straight up, like my body’s waking up 2 seconds before my mind and bolting myself upright before I have the chance. I don’t know if my internal clock’s just set or I’m having subconscious sleep arrhythmia or something, but that seems a little weird”. Asami shuffled her arm a little, but kept it firm to Korra’s. Korra felt a slight nervous, pushing the crosswalk button to cross to the street where the farmer’s market was, Naga practically drooling.

     “Hmm, keep going”. Korra had expected her to perhaps say a little more, but she was glad to air some of her concerns.

     “Hmm, well, I think maybe I’m getting a little keyed up over the amateur’s tournament maybe? I mean, it’s still three weeks away, and I could wait a couple days off, but I know there’s gonna be some pretty strong fighters from Alameda and South Bay there, and I have to keep my titles, and train up for that… And it’s not just at the gym, I’m finding running and calisthenics is really helping me too”.

     “That’s great, I’m glad you’re finding something you’re more comfortable with. I know you pace yourself pretty well, and if you’re finding running and stretching is better, than you should keep doing that”.

     “Yeah, but, I kinda, you know, don’t wanna do my strenuous workouts? Like, my gym days, on Wednesdays, I’d rather just watch TV and stay with Naga or like run and bring you a salad wrap”. A warm smile spread across Asami’s face, a faint blush as they started to walk past the soggy-trodden market tents.

     “I know it’s hard, but that’s why you’re so good at it! If you need a little more motivation, I can try to squeeze some more time in with you. We can go to the fitness center by our place, that might be more comfortable for you, a little less competitive. It’s more spa-influenced and a little more women-focused, anyway”.

     “Hey, are you forgetting that most of my opponents are men?”. Asami smirked, loosening her grip on Korra’s arm some so they could maneuver through the crowd more easily.

     “You cream ‘em anyway, but, you’re right, you can’t let your weight-lifting fall back, as much as you love the endurance part”. Asami let go of Korra’s arm and starting picking up watermelon squashes and zucchinis. Korra was glad to get some fresh veggies, but zucchini? She hated it before moving in with Asami, but had gotten accustom to some of her homemade minestrone's with zucchini in it. Korra picked up a fairly large watermelon, and saw Asami give her half a scold,

     “We can come back for that one, we got lots more to look at… Thank you!”, Asami paid the tent-keeper and Asami pulled her reusable tote out of her purse. Asami was in full farmer’s market mode,

     “Now how ‘bout some oranges? Oh, but was there anything else you had to say?”. Asami turned around and looked back at Korra, mangoes and papayas in her hands, biting part of her lip and looking at her full-on with those shiny, bright green apple eyes. Korra’s heart felt perfectly stable after all morning, and she shrugged back, replied,

     “All of your ideas sound pretty great to me. The test will be getting both of us out of bed and out to work out in time”. Korra bit her lip, looked at Asami sideways, joined her in looking at papayas. Asami touched her chin, not mattering that she had just been touching dirty fruit.

     “Hmm, yeah, that’s always the question…”, Asami held up three perfect oranges in one hand and a golden papaya in the other. “But it’s always a balancing act, isn’t it?”, she shrugged cutely.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading and feel free to leave a question or comment! :)


End file.
